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Planning Your Social Media Strategy? Take a Cue from GE

You hear a lot about engaging your audiences through social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and more. But how should these platforms work together? Each social network has its own features, strengths, and best practices, but as you’re using them to attract new audiences, you still want to make sure people are getting a cohesive message of what your brand is all about.

The truth is, the brands with the best social media presence are able to create compelling, relevant content, engage their audience in meaningful ways, and leverage the strengths of each platform they’re working on—all while always telling the same brand story.

Today, we’ll take a look at one company who’s done a fantastic job: GE. GE’s main message is technology: discovering it, creating it, and celebrating it. Take a look at three of GE’s social media sites to see how the company tells its story in unique, smart, and targeted ways, using the best of each platform.

Facebook

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Why it Works

Many companies think having a branded Facebook page means posting company news and talking about specific product offerings. But GE takes a different approach: By framing its platform around technology and innovation, GE positions itself as a go-to resource for content that relates to those two topics. So, if you’re a technology enthusiast and you see that GE posts interesting infographics about the industry, you’ll likely follow the company—regardless of whether or not you’re a GE customer. Which, as I probably don’t have to tell you, is very powerful marketing.

Pinterest

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“#Pinning things that inspire us to build, power, move and cure the world. Welcome to the official GE Pinterest page!”

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Boards include “That’s Genius,” a board dedicated to memes, quotes, and visuals that share the wisdom of GE’s founder, Thomas Edison; “Making Data Work,” a board that celebrates and shares GE-crafted data visualizations; “From the Factory Floor,” a board that highlights the people “who make GE work,” and (my personal favorite) “Hey Girl,” a play on the Ryan Gosling meme in the voice of Thomas Edison.

Why it Works

GE has a great understanding of the Pinterest community. First, it creates content that leverages the visual aspect of the platform, like infographics, interesting visuals, and memes. But while it understands that there are likely technology lovers on Pinterest that will enjoy its content, GE also knows there are people outside of its typical demographic that it can entice with fun, quirky memes—like the one that that reads “Hey Girl, our love will burn longer than a tungsten filament in a vacuum-sealed bulb.” The company manages to thread its brand and the theme of technology throughout its boards in a way that is more easily digestible and relatable to a larger community.

Tumblr

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Follow as we explore the changing worlds of science and technology.

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Why it Works

Once you land on GE’s Tumblr blog, content is organized by topics like “Powering,” “Building,” “Badass Machines,” and “Factory Floor,” each focused on a behind-the-scenes look at GE’s technology. How is GE building things? How do pieces of technology work? It’s immediately clear that the company is all about technology, but the content is stuff that anyone can get excited about and easily consume. To make its presence even more effective, GE posts large, compelling visuals and GIFs, which are the pieces of content that play best on the platform.

When it comes to your own brand, take a look at your social media presence holistically. Is it clear what your brand stands for? If so, now is a great time to think about how you can continue to excite your community with your core message. If not, take a page from GE’s book. Position your platforms as a go-to resource on information related to whatever topic you want to be an expert on—whether it’s travel, fashion, or personal branding. And then figure out how to create unique, compelling content that best tells that story on each of your platforms.

And don’t discount the memes! Not only does GE have a clear message and fantastic content, but it’s clear that the company is having fun. You should be, too.

This article was originally published on The Daily Muse. For more on social media strategy, check out:

Alex Honeysett is Head of Content at a digital strategy agency in NYC. She is an avid bookworm and an international communications and public relations expert. While she spent her formative years defending corporate brands from naysayers, she now helps brands become more compelling digital storytellers. She can still be found here.

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